2003 Dodge Caravan electrical troubleshooting

Electrical problem
2003 Dodge Caravan

I have a 2003 caravan that the left side parking lamps are blowing the fuse.
How do I trouble shoot this?
Should I not be able to use a meter to find the short?

Another thing not related I think, the ignition fuse had also blown. I removed the immobilizer and then the fuse would stay
working. It was after this that I tried replacing the fuse for the parking lamps and it would blow when the lights were turned on.

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Sunday, September 6th, 2009 AT 8:59 PM

2 Replies

CARADIODOC

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29,775 POSTS

An ohm meter is just going to show you a very low resistance to ground. What good is that? The fuse is blowing due to excessive current which is a result of low resistance. So you already know what the meter will tell you. You could hook up the ohm meter, read the value, then unplug something, run back to the fuse box to read the value again, and keep doing that until you unplug the circuit with the short. That's the hard way of finding the problem.

Here's an easier way. Solder a pair of wires to one of the burned out fuses. Solder the other end to a light bulb. Plug in the fuse and when you activate the circuit, a dead short will simply cause the bulb to operate at normal brightness. The resistance of the bulb will limit current to a safe level. When you do something that removes the short from the circuit, the brightness of the bulb will go down. You can unplug items, wiggle wiring harnesses, and move stuff around until you see a change in the bulb.

Hang the bulb where it won't contact a door panel or the carpet as these can be damaged from the heat.

Caradiodoc

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Monday, September 7th, 2009 AT 12:32 AM

RREKIH

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I like that idea.
I did have another suggestion about using a resettable fuse.
They cost a lot, a bulb I will have on hand.